Glaciers in Alaska. An Enthusiastic Report of John Muir's Lecture at Vancouver.
Files
Kimes Entry Number
A3-f
Original Date
1-24-1880
Publication
Morning Oregonian [Portland]
Page/Column
p. 1, col. 6-7
Location
CU
Recommended Citation
Muir, John, "Glaciers in Alaska. An Enthusiastic Report of John Muir's Lecture at Vancouver." (1880). John Muir: A Reading Bibliography by Kimes (Muir articles 1866-1986). 655.
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmb/655
William and Maymie Kimes Annotation
In a letter to the editor, the writer states: ""We had quite a treat in a lecture from John Muir. We have a lecture association, confining itself usually to amateur performances at the Oak Grove Theatre. . . . John Muir spent a portion of the day in making sketched diagrams which were skillfully executed in chalk on the blackboard, and being numbered answered as briefs."" The writer comments on Muir's ""holding the attention of the audience without interruption for upwards of two hours. Not the least part of it springs from the lecturer himself. He is a young man of great modesty, appearing like one who, as he says, 'has taken a walk among the mountains for fifteen years.' "" The reporter states in his description of the speaker that Muir is ""'not remarkable' except when his subject has so much absorbed him as to make him for the moment forget his surroundings, then the animation and ready action of Agassiz appears and you are wondering at his young face and his wonderful powers of generalization and condensation still never excluding some simple similes that make a strong judgment in your memory. Today l am enthused by the subject which I have not been able to sleep off."" The letter concludes with a detailed resume of the lecture. No date is given for this lecture in Vancouver, nor have we been able to locate one.